Ouch!! Bad review. I am not expecting the album to score highly across the board, but from what I have heard of the two released tracks I think it is a little harsh to say these are little more than demo's. I actually rate the production on the two tracks we have heard so far, can't imagine this taking a dive, even if the unheard songs aren't up to much.

northernmonkey wrote:Ouch!! Bad review. I am not expecting the album to score highly across the board, but from what I have heard of the two released tracks I think it is a little harsh to say these are little more than demo's. I actually rate the production on the two tracks we have heard so far, can't imagine this taking a dive, even if the unheard songs aren't up to much.

Well he's described the debut as 'marginally more interesting' which suggests he didn't like that much either but...As I said before, the main music mags can't really afford to piss Damon off so probably added a star to their reviews suggesting it's really a 3/5. The national newspapers tend to be more honest as their circulation doesn't depend on pop-star interviews. So we'll get a true feel for the album's worth either this Friday or next when most newspapers publish their reviews...

Ah but Veikko its the essence of these tracks which is the beauty which I feel many people are missing the point of. Its the depiction of society and the picture of social change. Its not about making hit records and for the music elite. Its for the pure love of music and its ability to portray the now, now!!! Its great that people wish to share their opinions and quite right too. But don't get too deep about it or disappointed. Its the journey which music take us but also the journey of where we will be after next March!!!! For me these two tracks paint the texture of this country with reflective notes of arguable the best blur record made being 'Modern Life is Rubbish'. Here's to hopefully a great night it Hackney!!!

The division about this record is making me excited for whatever reason The material Damon has been making for the past 5 years has been kind of... safe, I’d say, more or less. So, while I’m not a big fan of Gun to Head, I think it provides some fresh perspective on what Damon songs/writes/composes, and I think that is good. So, yeah, the album will definitely be a divisive one - I just wonder if I’ll like it or hate it!

“It has a sense of, ‘We rely on each other’,” says Albarn. “We live on this stroppy little island, and we need to talk to each other. But have we not just spent the last couple of years going round in circles? As Danny Dyer said, it’s a mad riddle. Or you could say it’s an Anglo-Saxistentialist crisis.”

What does he mean? “I was looking through stuff not that long ago, and I found a front page of the Sun from the Britpop era. I’d written on a bit of it in Biro when I was doing Parklife: ‘Anglo-Saxistentalism’. I thought: ‘That’s weird – that’s what I’m talking about now.’ In the most crass form, we say we want our country back. But you need to know what your country is before you want it back. And part of that is understanding who we are. We’re Vikings. We’re Anglo-Saxons. We’re French, Belgian, Nigerian, Caribbean, Ghanian, Somalian, Pakistani. To say, ‘We’re just this’ seems ridiculous to me. That’s all. That’s my biggest problem with [Brexit]: don’t limit yourself, guys. I don’t think we can afford to have that attitude. We need to be very outward-looking.”

He returns to Blackpool, or somewhere like it. “That’s why we have all those piers. That’s a kind of metaphor for trying to reach out into the world.”